What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel. Essentially, if a marketing campaign involves digital communication, it's digital marketing. For a more in-depth understanding, you can refer to Neil Patel's Digital Marketing Guide.
Inbound Marketing vs. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing and inbound marketing are easily confused, and for good reason. Digital marketing uses many of the same tools as inbound marketing—email and online content, to name a few. Both exist to capture the attention of prospects through the buyer’s journey and turn them into customers. But the two approaches take different views of the relationship between the tool and the goal. For a comprehensive guide on inbound marketing, check out HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Guide.
Why is Digital Marketing Important?
Digital marketing has become increasingly important because of how accessible digital channels are. In fact, there were 5 billion internet users globally in April 2022 alone. From social media to text messages, there are many ways to use digital marketing tactics in order to communicate with your target audience. Additionally, digital marketing has minimal upfront costs, making it a cost-effective marketing technique for small businesses.
B2B vs. B2C Digital Marketing
Digital marketing strategies work for B2B (business to business) as well as B2C (business to consumer) companies, but best practices differ significantly between the two. B2B clients tend to have longer decision-making processes, and thus longer sales funnels. Relationship-building strategies work better for these clients, whereas B2C customers tend to respond better to short-term offers and messages.
Types of Digital Marketing
There are as many specializations within digital marketing as there are ways of interacting using digital media. Here are a few key examples of types of digital marketing tactics.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is technically a marketing tool rather than a form of marketing in itself. SEO is the art and science of making web pages attractive to search engines. The most important elements to consider when optimizing a web page for search engines include the quality of content, level of user engagement, mobile-friendliness, and the number and quality of inbound links. For a detailed guide on SEO, you can refer to Search Engine Journal's SEO Guide.
Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategy based on the distribution of relevant and valuable content to a target audience. As in any marketing strategy, the goal of content marketing is to attract leads that ultimately convert into customers. But it does so differently than traditional advertising. Instead of enticing prospects with potential value from a product or service, it offers value for free in the form of written material. For a comprehensive guide on content marketing, check out Content Marketing Institute's Content Marketing Guide.
